Oral Reading Fluency

Question 1

what is oral reading fluency (ORF)?

Answer 1

• the ability to read connected text rapidly, smoothly, accurately, and automatically with little conscious effort to the mechanics of reading, such as decoding
• not a stage in reading development
• includes prosody: intonation, stress, tempo, use of appropriate phrasing

Question 2

ORF is not a stage in reading development

Answer 2

changes depending on what’s being read, the reader’s family with the words, amount of practice with that particular text

Question 3

what research says about reading fluency

Answer 3

• word reading accuracy has a strong relationship with fluency and comprehension
• reading rate has a strong relationship with fluency and comprehension
• exact role of prosody (expression, phrasing) in fluency and comprehension has not been determined

Question 4

fluency assessment: screening

Answer 4

• use grade level text
• fall, winter, spring
• 1st-5th grade
• WCPM

Question 5

WCPM

Answer 5

• read an unfamiliar, grade-level passage aloud for one minute
• subtract total number of errors from total number of words read in one minute
• errors: omissions, mispronunciation, substitutions
• not errors: repetitions, self-correctins, insertions

Question 6

Qualitative Reading Inventory-6

Answer 6

• informal (not standardized)
• criterion referenced
• identify independent, instruction, frustration reading levels

Question 7

other fluency assessments

Answer 7

• Great Oral Reading Test (GORT-5)
• DIBELS

Question 8

other areas to assess that could be related to low WCPM

Answer 8

• phonological and phonemic awareness
• decoding
• working memory
• orthographic knowledge
• background knowledge

Question 9

fluency progress monitoring

Answer 9

• use text that’s at instructional level of 1 level above
• used to set short term and long term goals
• graphed

Question 10

fluency progress monitoring: frequency

Answer 10

• 6-12 months below grade level = 1 - 2x/month
• 1+ years below = 2 - 4x/month

Question 11

profiles of students with fluency deficits

Answer 11

• WCPM is low but word reading accuracy for grade-level texts is average (interventions focuses on speed)
• WCPM is low and word reading accuracy for grade-level texts is below average (intervention focuses on phonics, decoding, potentially other language skills such as vocabulary, PA, comprehension, etc.)
• in both cases, prosody may also need to be targeted

Question 12

assessing prosody: observation of oral reading of connected text

Answer 12

• inflection, expression, phrasing
• emphasizes appropriate words
• tone rises and falls at appropriate times
• uses appropriate tone to represent characters’ dialogue
• demonstrates recognition of punctuation through pausing
• uses prepositional phrases, subject-verb divisions and conjunctions for pausing

Question 13

NAEP fluency scale: level 4

Answer 13

• read primarily in larger, meaningful phrase groups
• although some regressions, repetitions, and deviations from text may be present, these do not appear to detract from the overall structure of the story
• preservation of the author’s syntax is consistent
• some or most of the story is read with expressive interpretation

Question 14

NAEP fluency scale: level 3

Answer 14

• read primarily 3 to 4 word phrase groups
• some small groupings may be present
• however, the majority of phrasing seems appropriate and preserves the syntax of the author
• little or no expressive interpretation is present

Question 15

NAEP fluency scale: level 2

Answer 15

• read primarily in 2 word phrases with some 3 or 4 word groupings
• some word-by-word reading may be present
• word groupings may seem awkward and unrelated to larger context of sentences or passage

Question 16

NAEP fluency scale: level 1

Answer 16

• read primarily word-by-word
• occasional 2 word or 3 word phrases may occur but these are infrequent and/or they do not preserve meaningful syntax

Question 17

3 categories of approaches to fluency instruction

Answer 17

1. wide reading in appropriate text
2. motivational, fluency-building approaches
3. approaches for below average readers

Question 18

1. wide reading in appropriate text

Answer 18

• practice in interesting, enjoyable, non-taxing situations
• make reading a habit

Question 19

2. motivational, fluency-building approaches

Answer 19

• should be used from time-to-time
• readers theatre, props
• struggling readers take less demanding parts

Question 20

3. approaches for below average readers

Answer 20

• modeling of fluent reading by teacher/other fluent reader
• oral support while reading: choral reading, paired reading, reading aloud while listening to recording
• opportunities for repeated oral readings of the same (instructional level) text
• focus on reading syntactically appropriate and meaningful (authentic) text

Question 21

assessing text difficulty and accessibility

Answer 21

• fry readability formula
• subjective approach: vocabulary, sentence structure, length, coherence, text structure, familiarity of content and background knowledge, audience appropriateness, quality of writing, interest level, etc.
• list of leveled texts: Fountas and Pinnell